jkslade.net

We got a simple little video camera back at Christmas, but I haven’t bothered to upload / post anything before now… I spent a few minutes to see what’s involved, so here goes — a couple today from Colin visiting for dinner:

A couple comments on the yard: we just had the old patio torn out and a new stamped-concrete patio poured. Next comes the deck where the old patio was, then hopefully a sprinkler system so we can finally grow grass consistently. It’s going to be a busy summer

Last month I had the privilege of baptizing my second son, Trent. To me, it is one of the greatest joys I have as a father, and a great confirmation to me of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel — that I can administer to my own family through the power and authority of the priesthood.

That thought was also expressed by Elder Enrique R. Falabella of the Seventy:

The Church of Jesus Christ is a church of priests, “a royal priesthood, an holy nation” (1 Peter 2:9).

The restored Church gives to each home a priesthood holder with the power of God to bless. How many times I have been able to hear the soft, sweet voice of a little child at home say, “Daddy, could you give me a blessing?” and put my hands upon his or her head in moments of pain and difficulty and pronounce blessings of comfort and healing and see the power of the priesthood exercise its influence and the next day hear that little voice say, “Thanks, Daddy, I slept just fine last night.” We don’t need to go out looking for someone having that power—it is among us! What a blessing to be able to teach this principle to our children! This is the only church upon the earth which offers such a blessing to families.

Kim wanted to have family pictures done for her birthday.

We’re not entirely thrilled with the pictures, but it will be a nice memory in the future. More pictures here:

The pictures here are scans of the originals, so the quality is not great.

Stop reading now unless you want to know about the experience…

We had them done at Portrait Innovations at the Centerra shopping center. I hate big shopping centers, and I hate the assembly-line, herding operations like the studio was. But it certainly wasn’t all bad.

They claim to have ‘re-invented the studio experience’. I admit it ran pretty smoothly overall. We took the photos, all digital, so we could immediately review them on the large flat-panel displays right there in the studio. The photographer did a pretty good job of getting everyone, including Mark, to look at the camera and smile — no small task. After we selected the poses and package we wanted, it was just 1/2 hour to pick up the finished prints.

So, it was fast and streamlined, but very impersonal. The studio was crowded and ‘hopping’, and it wasn’t even at a peak time — I can’t imagine doing it earlier in December with the Christmas card rush. We certainly didn’t have a chance to look at some of the initial pictures and make adjustments — we ended up not using the whole first set in our solid-colored shirts because the background didn’t work and poses were off. There was definitely pressure to keep things moving along. To be fair, we had our own pressure to finish before Mark gave out, and we didn’t quite make it.

We’d really like to do a more laid-back session with a photographer who was a bit more interested in us personally, ideally a friend or family member — when are you going to come to Fort Collins, Lindsay? Plus, we have a strong preference for outdoor settings.

But, we did it, and we’re have some decent photos to capture this moment in our family history.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1241118288

Merry Christmas!

My birthday was last week. Happy birthday to me. I’ve been recovering from a bad ankle sprain the last few weeks. Playing ultimate is one of my favorite things, so it’s pretty frustrating when I can’t.

We also celebrated Mark’s 1st birtday a few weeks ago. Mark and my other boys definitely rank very high on my list of favorites.

Halloween was fun for the boys, but I think the most fun was harvesting the pumpkins from our garden, then carving them together. The fall weather has been awesome, and we’ve enjoyed lots of outdoor activities, including some corn mazes.

At the corn maze, we saw a large trebuchet for launching pumpkins. We were all impressed by that. It was the inspiration for Trent’s simple machine project — we chose to launch jumbo marshmallows, and he had a lot of fun demoing it at school.

More pictures from recent weeks, including Halloween and other fall fun:

October already… general conference was this weekend, very uplifting as usual. I even managed to watch most all of it — we have the rest recorded for later. Something to do while I fold laundry tomorrow night. But more on conference later. First, the most important part — pictures here:

A quick recap on September and into October:

• Alec ended up having his two front teeth removed after his bicycle accident. Just means he’ll be toothless for a few years.
• The boys started school — 4th, 2nd, and preschool.
• Soccer season started as well. Three games every Saturday. It’s tough to have both of us there at all of them, but I know the boys appreciate it when we do. It’s Alec’s first season, and he rocks Trent is now at the level with goalies. He loves defense and forward. He’s been nick-named ‘The Wall’. Caleb’s now playing on the intermediate league, and it’s fun to see how they are really starting to play soccer!
• Mark is walking a few steps now. He loves the dog, the dog puts up with him really well.

This week, we took a little trip to Rocky Mountain National Park to see the Elk rut. It was a beautiful day in the mountains, and it was cool to see (and hear) the big bulls bugling to gather their harems together. In one part of the valley (Moraine Park), the cows were grazing up within 10 feet of the cars and people. It was a fun experience.

I spent Friday / Saturday digging a trench for conduit to put in an electrical line out to our shed. The older boys ‘helped’ a bit too — mostly they enjoyed playing in the dirt and throwing dirt clods. I was hurrying to get it dug and put in the conduit before the forecasted storm moved in Saturday night, but that never materialized.

Laying the electrical lines is the first step in a bunch of work we have planned for the back yard. It’s slow going, though, as it often has to take back seat to other priorities. But we are anxious to be able to enjoy our yard more.

I really enjoyed watching / listening to conference. I just want to write a few of the thoughts that were memorable to me:

• The calling of President Eyring to the First Presidency, and Elder Cook to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
• Elder Ballard’s message about being prepared to share the gospel — know what we want to say, answer the question being asked. Few people will have the time or patience to listen to an hour discourse on the church. We can be more effective with a few specific points.
• President Eyring’s counsel to pray for others instead of ourselves. Forget our own concerns and shortcomings. True power in prayer and in priesthood service comes from focusing on the needs of others, seeking to understand their needs and find ways to serve them.
• President Monson’s anecdote about the boy with ‘flaming red hair’ — followed by President Hinckley’s challenge to him to dye his own hair!
• Elder Oak’s talk on good, better, best. It really is easy to merely be a good person, so much more to seek and exemplify the best in all we do.
• President Hinckley: Singers can sing the same song over and over again, orchestras repeat the same works, but a speaker is expected to give a new message each time… I enjoy his wit, as well as his words of testimony and counsel.

Having read about it from my sister, I decided to find out my own motherstyle:

Your type is: intj — The “Individual Integrity” Mother

“My kids are better off arguing their own point of view than telling me, ‘But everyone else is doing it.’”

• Individualistic and independent, the INTJ mother is both a role model and teacher of how to be an individual and live life with integrity. She is introspective, defining her own success from within, and generally confident in her decisions. She is unlikely to be persuaded by her children saying, “But all the other mothers are doing it.”
• The INTJ is competent in providing for her children’s basic needs, but she is likely more focused on developing their self-esteem and confidence. Observant and insightful, she puts great importance on independent thinking and self-sufficiency, yet she is comfortable providing protection and boundaries.
• Self-motivated and intense, the INTJ works hard and takes life seriously. As a mother, she lives for those moments when she can impart knowledge and offer her children perspectives on life and important issues.

I’d say it’s pretty close.

If you haven’t heard the story of Dick and Rick Hoyt, it’s well worth your time:

http://cjcphoto.com/can/

I agree with others that it is silly to create grandiose goals to start the new year — only to forget them within a week. I’m not planning to set any new goals, really, just write down some of the things I’m actively working towards, and elicit feedback and support from others to help me achieve them. So here goes…

Get under 175 and stay there - I’m generally active a reasonably healthy, but losing a couple pounds would be great. I don’t have the time and energy to commit to really shaping my body… this goal simply means that I need to be more disciplined, mainly cutting out the junk and exercising a bit more regularly. I expect to hit 175 by the end of March.

Go to bed by midnight at least 3 days a week - This is a major issue and a discipline I need to develop. Getting more sleep, and more consistently, will have many positive ripple effects in other areas.

Never use credit cards again - Mostly we keep credit cards for emergencies, and pay the balances quickly. But really it’s a crutch to keep from having to be more disciplined and plan better. I’ve been reading and listening to stuff from Dave Ramsey, and he’s helped me realize my dependence on them and that it has to stop. I strongly encourage you to follow his advice (which certainly isn’t anything new).

Establish a 6-month emergency fund - Another of Dave’s baby steps (also not unique to him). It’s tricky to balance all the competing needs for financial resources, but this is something that has to be done first. Our landscaping and other plans will just have to wait a while longer.

Earn revenue from my genealogy business - I’ve been working on some web-based genealogy service stuff with some partners for about a year now… mostly we’ve just been learning and prototyping, and not moving very fast at all. This year I plan to move that far enough along that it generates actual revenue - anything more than zero counts! I see the potential as being much greater than that (or else why would I do it?) but, realistically, everything else that takes my time and energy is not going to go away.

Get out of the house with my wife at least twice a month - Two days until our 11th anniversary, and I certainly have a lot more to learn about dating her. It doesn’t have to be anything lavish, but it does have to be just the two of us.

Ski and golf with my boys - I’m looking forward to lots of fun activities with my boys as they get older. It will be a while before we all are able to do these things together as a family, but I’ll do what I can for now. As Kim’s grandfather Brig says, “All I hope for this year is to make more money and play more golf.”

Use technology to benefit my extended family - uh, that doesn’t count as a goal, but I’ll let it slide - I’m kind of the nerd of the family, and that’s okay. I know a lot about the internet and such that can benefit my family. This past year I got my mother blogging. This year I need to finish up on the Lofgreen Newsletter project I started a couple years ago. Then there’s teaching about things like RSS, avoiding viruses, phishing and other attacks, filtering bad content, etc. There’s no way I can keep up on all of it myself, but I’m happy to consult and help any who ask.

Looks like 2007 will be as busy as ever. Hopefully writing these down and sharing them publicly will help to yield positive results. I’m looking forward to it.

A lovely winter blizzard blew into town this morning. I decided not to drive into work, and I’m glad I didn’t. The school closed down early, and when I tried to drive the .5 mile to get Caleb and Trent, my car got stuck about 50yds from home. I managed to make it back to the garage and took the van instead.

My neighbor was out shoveling his driveway when a large school bus tried to turn the corner and just kept on going. The rear end of the school bus ended up in his driveway, with just enough of a downhill slope that it was not going to go anywhere fast. He got to play host to about 10 kids for a while, most of whom were rescued from other stranded buses — I hope they’ve all managed to get home by now.

We are hoping to be skiing at Copper Mountain on Friday… odds are good that we won’t be making it. A state of emergency has been declared for the whole state, the airport is shutdown, school and work are closed. We’ll just have to spend some ‘quality’ time together at home.